In the digitally driven world we know of, information moves very fast and if that involves a fun game, it moves even faster with most of the young crowds online. When I saw Centre Fresh ads for the new ‘Gum Charades’ game, I knew this would be another fun campaign from the house of Perfetti Van Melle.

Centre Fresh, the flagship brand from Perfetti has launched a two-month long digital campaign called “Gum Charades”, that has been inspired by the popular guessing game ‘Dumb Charades’ in a bid to engage the youth. In line with its ‘Zubaan Pe Rakhe Lagaam’ proposition, Gum Charades requires you to guess the movie name as quickly as you can, because lesser the time you take, higher is the score you get. And there are loads of prizes for the top scorers. The bumper prize is a trip for two to Bangkok, three mega prizes of iPad 4, six monthly prizes of digital cameras and 40 weekly prizes of Samsung Galaxy and Nokia Lumia smartphones.

In addition to an extensive digital campaign conceptualized by Maxus Digital and social media campaign by social media agency WAT Consult, the brand has tied up with television channels like 9XM, Channel V, Mtunes and Zoom for content integration and will also be airing radio spots on popular radio stations in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

It’s raining Gum Charades!

To ensure maximum reach, the guessing game has been hosted on a microsite as well as on a Facebook app on the Centre Fresh Facebook page. Additionally, it can also be played on mobile platform like Rocketalk and video platform like Vuclip.

The online gum charades game requires you to choose one from any of the three lively female hosts – Disha, Elena and Pankhuri, who will enact the name of a movie for you to guess in the box below. However, you need to register before you start anything. The microsite has also enabled a Facebook login in addition to an email one.

The rules for scoring in the Center Fresh Gum Charades contest are simple. You get 100 bonus points on registration itself. After you select your buddy, the video will start playing and your time will start. You need to type the right movie name in the box below and click submit as soon as you guess it. Additionally, you will get 10 bonus points when you share your score on Facebook or Twitter during the game.

You can submit as many entries till you get it right and even use the clues to get help, or else you have the option to move on to the next video. The site has tabs for instructions, leaderboard and winners along with the link to the T&Cs of the contest.

The Facebook app replicates the microsite so you could play from anywhere.

How cool is Gum Charades?

For a gum brand that has always stood for zipping up your mouth for saying what you shouldn’t have, the game of ‘Gum Charades’ is a perfect match. The campaign sits well with the brand proposition of ‘Zubaan Pe Rakhe Lagaam‘, while building an engaged online community.

Gum Charades also excels in its appealing design and execution. The attention to detail provides for a smooth experience in terms of navigation and helpful game instructions. I particularly liked that the background score could be reduced or altogether muted by the user, otherwise it could get really annoying if you’re playing for long. Besides, the concept of bonus points for sharing on users’ social networks is a smart leverage to maximise reach on social media.

Along with the microsite and Facebook app, the brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages are also actively engaging the community through visual updates to guess the movie. Both the networks have taken on the spirit of Gum Charades game. Also enabling the game to be played on mobile platforms like Rocketalk and Vuclip only helps it spread further in a country with a sizeable number accessing internet through their mobile phones. But it would be interesting to know how much traction the brand is getting from such platforms when the youth is spending more time on social messaging apps like – WhatsApp, Hike, WeChat, etc.

Awesome concept, cool prizes and the fun quotient makes Gum Charades a complete win-win for the brand and its online community. What are your thoughts?